"Whatever happens," Midnight Oil told the other pony captives. "Don't be afraid. You're going to see some awful things soon, but just remember, Oak Breaker and his friends deserve everything that's about to happen to them."
"You're getting your hopes up again? Even after your 'king' was killed and thrown in the pit? It's sad.. you should just accept the truth," one of the pegasi said glumly.
"The truth? Is that I'm going to see Oak Breaker die, before my very eyes, today. And I'm looking forward to it! Does that make me a bad pony? I'll worry about that later. Right now, I have a show to watch," she said, before turning toward their captors. She had been speaking loudly enough for them to hear her just fine, and it was having the effect she had hoped for.
"Don't just wait here. Use the life hunter spell, and go kill the intruder!" Oak Breaker thundered before storming over toward the ring to confront Midnight. A single unicorn held back to watch the proceedings with an eerie calm, while the rest of the dark crystal bearing ponies started into the tunnel toward the bottom of the well. Looking around, they saw nothing but the dead bodies of their comrades, but one of the unicorns lit up its horn with magic and nodded towards a pegasus slumped against the wall. "That one, still alive. Must be another of their changelings."
The earth pony brutes wasted no time finishing off the unconscious pegasus, and then turned back to their comrades. "Hey, weren't there three of you pegasi with us a second ago?" one of them said, noticing they were down to a single pegasus standing by to back them up.
They all looked around in confusion, but they hadn't taken the time to memorize the disposition of the corpses in the cave, so they didn't know which ones were fresh and which had been there for several minutes. They tried the spell again, but none of the corpses had any life to them, and they weren't imaginative enough to check and notice the one remaining pegasi in their group wasn't registering as alive.
They nervously made their way back to the main cavern, just in time to see Oak Breaker confront Midnight Oil. The massive earth pony towered over the younger unicorn, smug grin matching smug grin. Midnight Oil had had a magic suppressing ring placed on her horn and hammered into place with a nail through the sensitive flesh, so Oak Breaker had no fear of the little filly. But she had had plenty of time for the kingsblood to dissolve the nail and heal the tissue. She had to use the kingsbloods power to adjust her neurochemistry, suppressing her ability to get angry, lest the dark crystals drain her. This would be a revenge served with coldblooded ruthlessness.
"You ready to join your 'king' in the pit, little filly? I'll miss you in bed.. I'll think of you when I'm breaking in that little pink friend of yours from school," Oak Breaker began, hoping to drive her to anger.
"Oak Breaker.. stop talking," she commanded as a magnetic surge popped the ring off her horn, and the combined love drawn from a dozen changelings serving as 'batteries' filled her horn with power. The massive telekinetic force that slammed into Oak Breakers back and pinned him to the ground was powerful enough to be visible to the naked eye, like a giant, lavender hoof stomping down on him.
"What?!" he exclaimed, before a small surge of power clamped his jaws shut.
Finally, I came into view, up to the bottom of my barrel, with Cherry Blossom's head and shoulders visible by my side, giving the impression of hovering just under the lip of the pit, while our swarm of undisguised changelings took flight. Finally, I got to say the line! "The rumors of my demise.. have been greatly exaggerated!" I couldn't help but laugh, so excited at the chance to use that line, but I did my best to make the laugh sound menacing.
The unicorn that had held back earlier teleported away at this point, just as null had been about to remove him from the equation another way. I'm guessing he saw the writing on the wall at this point. The other thugs did not. They charged toward Midnight Oil hoping to eliminate at least the one threat, only to find the lashing limbs of the massive undead monstrosity rising out of the pit a suitable distraction, along with blasts of green energy from the changelings by my side. The unicorn concentrated, apparently attempting a spell of some kind, only to find his neck snapped from behind, much as Juju Bee had.
Dispatching the remaining thugs was pleasantly cathartic, but I was bothered by how smoothly everything had gone. Still, the disappeared unicorn was sure to be a thorn in our side in the future. But in the meantime, we had Oak Breaker to deal with. Cherry Blossom climbed out of the pit entirely, and sat her massive bulk down on top of him, keeping him pinned as Midnight Oil was free to stop burning up our supply of love energy. With her spare limbs, she joined null in smashing and sweeping the dark crystals into the pit she had just crawled out of.
"How.. how?!" Oak Breaker asked furiously. He tried to break free but even with his surges of dark power he couldn't escape the massive corpse pile sitting on top of him.
"You forgot to check the bodies.. make sure we were really and truly dead," I said with a shrug, as I stood near Oak's head, looking down on him. "Now Cherry Blossom here. She's really and truly dead. But in my kingdom.. that doesn't mean you can't still contribute, and help save some ponies, right Cherry Blossom?"
"I told you the Itinerant King was going to save us," she said, to the cowering ponies behind us, more so than to Oak Breaker. "He was a little late saving me, but he did what he could."
"So, who was that unicorn that fled the scene, and where was he going? You have some big shadowy boss monster somewhere, pulling your strings?" I asked the defeated earth pony.
"Why should I tell you anything?" he spat at me for emphasis. "This is your king, huh?" he asked Midnight Oil. "The unicorn that works with changelings, and moves corpses? How is he any better than me? Than King Sombra? At least Sombra was a real King, and not some upstart usurper! I serve the once and future king! The true king of the Crystal Empire an all of Equestria! And we will reclaim this land, and then we will hunt you down and -" Cherry Blossom decided his ranting had stopped being useful and went ahead and ended him.
"I'm going to.. just go back into my pit now," Cherry Blossom said as she departed, dragging Oak Breaker's broken remains with her.
"So.. what happens now?" one of the captive unicorns asked, a little less timidly with the crystals gone, but still quite genuinely fearful.
"Now.. you all have a choice to make. You can swear loyalty to me, take the blood oath and become a part of my kingdom, with all the powers, rights and responsibilities that entails. I can see you are all.. broken ponies. I will do everything I can to fix you; the bodily harm will be easy, though the brokenness in your hearts.. well. I do what I can. Or, we can get you out of here and part ways, leaving you to find a new path for yourselves to earn your own way once again. You'll have your freedom restored, to rise or fall on your own. So.. any questions?"